Joseph

Joseph is a book that tells the real-life story of a single mother coping with the pressures of life and bringing up a child with autism. The author, Philomena Scully, captures a world that is relatable to other parents – the main audience that the book has been written for.

It shares a variety of honest and funny stories, covering common topics that she has struggled with over the years while supporting and loving her son despite the extreme differences that her new life entailed. It also illustrates simple techniques and tips to help ordinary parents who are finding themselves in same situation.

Its written from the heart with a simple structure that people can learn from. It lays bare the trials and tribulations she encountered and how she accepted that autism is a different way of life through the love of her son.    

Keep Stepping - A Step-By-Step Journey to a Clearer View of Mental Well-Being

Mike Owen, born with two congenital heart defects, battled with cardiac issues until the age of seven, when he underwent open heart surgery that changed his life.

For the following 31 years, Mike was plagued with intense and disabling heart palpitations. In 2004, the cause of the palpitations was diagnosed and, after a short cardiac procedure, for the first time in 38 years his heart was stable.

Life became easier. His confidence grew. But so did his workload. After three years of work-related stress, his heart succumbed to a new type of palpitation which would blight his life for the next four years. After taking steps to reduce the frequency and intensity of his cardiac problems, Mike finally felt like he had turned a corner. However, in 2017, he was plunged back into despair following a series of dramatic events.

When his Occupational Health Doctor gave him an unexpected Mental Illness diagnosis, Mike embarked on a new path. He now had to deal with psychological issues, learn mindfulness techniques and work through the trauma of his childhood and the uncertainty of having spent so many years living with his heart problems.

With his faithful dog, Coco, always by his side, Mike confronted the stigma and discrimination surrounding mental illness, in his own way. He found physical, emotional, and mental stability thanks to his diagnosis, and this is his uplifting story.

The Mama Sutras

The Mama Sutras is a practical, spiritual, psychological and emotional toolbox for modern mothering. Threaded with ancient wisdom and magnified within a contemporary context, the words within these pages are a doorway into the unspoken challenges and complimentary bliss faced by modern mothers. It dares to bring to the surface the deepest fears we carry and gently addresses them with a bold yet forgiving voice. This is the handbook for opening your heart, growing your soul and healing your mind.

As modern mamas, we can gain a lot of insight from ancient traditions and theories. The Mama Sutras serves as a present-day contemplation and translation of these. This book is for you if you’ve ever felt that mothering is like battling an inner demon (or two) or you feel exhausted from the endless giving and the aspects of motherhood which live alone in your mind and need a friend to hold hands with. Within these pages are a retreat, a non-judgemental place to turn, the wisdom you wish you had and a place to ground and regather when everything around is spinning. Come and catch your breath within these pages.

Paul Vitz: Psychological Mythbuster

American psychologist, Paul Vitz, was a pioneer critic of the ‘me, me, me’ generation and humanistic psychology which flourished alongside it. He stands out because of the cultural, psychological and spiritual depth of his critique. Mythbusters are rare and Vitz is a mythbuster par excellence, tearing apart several generations of selfism with insight, wisdom and wit. Other critiques came much later. He saw it all at the time.

This book takes the reader on a journey into the life and thought of a rare thinker, a questioner of ideological sacred cows, and one of the most original and gifted psychologists of the past century.

Paul Vitz was a visionary for his time in confronting and mythbusting humanistic psychology amidst ‘a tsunami of humanistic adulation.’ This book gives perceptive insights into Vitz's thought and times. Well worth reading!

– Catherine MacLaurin, Psychologist, Senior Wellbeing Advisor (SWA), Health and Safety Directorate, NSW Department of Education and Training, Australia

The American psychologist, Paul Vitz, has been a remarkably prescient and courageous critic of the humanist psychology movement, headlined by Carl Rogers. In this book, Wanda Skowronska has provided a thorough and convincing account of Vitz’s work. Her book deserves a wide readership.

– Colin Patterson STD, Dean and Permanent Fellow of the former John Paul II Institute, Melbourne, Australia.

In her book, Wanda Skowronska masterfully narrates the philosophical, theological, and historical context of the development of humanistic psychology, especially that of Carl Rogers, through the lens of Paul C. Vitz’s life and publications. This work critiques the influences of contemporary psychology’s humanistic origins of self-fulfilment theories and cultural Marxism and honours the lifelong work of Paul Vitz, who is undoubtedly one of the most significant Catholic psychologists of our times.

– Professor Craig Steven Titus, S.Th.D./Ph.D. Divine Word University, USA.

Staring Death in the Face

This is a real-life account of a family dealing with anorexia of one of its own. Sarah nearly died. She could have died at any time as her body had begun to shut down. The local medical services said that they had never come across anyone with such a low body mass index (weight) as hers. Sarah was heard screaming out as her body began to close down at death’s door. But by the grace of God, she miraculously survived.

The events are chronicled by the author, Sarah’s father; plus there is a very poignant additional contribution portrayal through the eyes of her sister Olivia too — together these sections paint the picture of what this family had to endure and complement each other.

This is a book which I am sure you will find hard to put down and will educate you not only as far as the illness of anorexia is concerned but also in seeing how it can be transcended.

Mental Health Workbook

Mental health is a critical component of everyone’s lives. If you have a brain and have ever felt feelings, then this is the workbook for you!
It is part coloring book, part entertainment, part journal, and part suggestions for when encountering difficult times and complex emotions. Its main goal is to be a fun, helpful and useful workbook that encourages the user.

The Power of Being Known: A Heart-Centered Journey Connecting to Self, Earth, Lineage, and Love

The heart’s technology is more advanced than a cell phone and is the first organ to be created while you’re in your mother’s womb - chosen to be first for a Divine reason.   Connecting to the heart daily is the key to gaining access to the truth, wisdom, love, and healing you are worthy of receiving.

To know yourself begins by knowing that you are one cell, one of many, and together, co-create your heart and entire Being. 

Choosing to know yourself from deep within and allowing yourself to be known opens the heart to be seen, loved, heard, felt, and supported in the present moment– which means you get to experience the richness of life wholeheartedly.

 This book shines light on what’s been hidden underneath the surface and gently leads you on an inner exploration for you to feel safe and empowered to alchemize fears, integrate a new way of Being, embody the truth and power of who you are, and love your Self (your cells) from the inside-out. 

This book can be read over and over again to support you in every phase of your heart-centered journey.

So, let’s begin!

Be still, feel, ask, listen, breathe, receive,

and know.

– Dr. Sofia Costa

Be Happier in 30 Days

Society moves so fast and when you try to keep up, self-care is usually the last on the agenda. When it gets left long enough your thoughts, emotions, and feelings can become imbalanced. This can result in a breakdown in relationships, staying in a stagnant job, isolation and a very unsatisfied life.We can place ourselves on a mental loop and not know where to begin to stop it. This book is a realistic daily step by step guide that refocuses your mental awareness to break the cycle. It provides you with the freedom to assess your life from a different perspective and to take charge of different areas of your life that you have been neglecting. It prioritises for you and develops your awareness, so all you have to do is follow the guidance.

Twisted Wires

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Living with the Voices of Watchers and Hope

Inside the mind of a Schizophrenic Scouser

This book tackles the stigmas surrounding mental illness with raw honesty and dark humour. From straitjackets to fearmongering, from serial killers to the boardroom, the protagonist navigates life under the constant weight of being watched – a prisoner in her own mind.

But when does psychosis become a threat to those who don’t understand it? For her, it’s not the voices in her head that are most frightening, but the people around her. With humour and small victories, she learns to cope in a world that often feels scarier than her own thoughts.

Musings of a Grieving Mam

It’s humbling to realise that everything I’ve taken for granted over the last 13 years, touching Lils, holding her, being beside her, I now have to ask permission to do it.

That now, other mothers’ hands have the unspoken right to touch my daughter.

I have to ask permission to perform the most basic of ‘mum duties’ for my own child.

My. Own. Child.

16 days in the head of a mum during her teenage daughter’s battle with HLH.

The Original Idea

A young person struggles with their own mortality after the death of their father. As they ponder this question, the great question which we must all face at some time or another, and filled with anxiety, their thoughts turn to the first law of thermodynamics: ‘the total energy in a system remains constant, although it may be converted from one form to another.’ Perhaps as one being dies, another is born, and life remains but only changes form and shape. Might this experience of suffering provide the key to accepting their own finitude, and help them push through the grief of losing a loved one?

2:

After the death of a beloved parent, a young adventurer known as the Young One embarks on a mysterious journey of metaphorical encounters. Perhaps they can help him understand a dying man’s final words, and finally discover the meaning behind the Original Idea.